Swidler to Launch Advisory Services for Creative-Focused Ventures
May 27, 2026, NEW YORK — Sony Music and Julie Swidler, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel, today announced her long-planned departure at the end of June.
Since being appointed in 2008, Swidler has helped guide the company through periods of transformation while championing artists, innovation, and long-term progress in the sector more broadly. She has overseen Business, Legal, and Governmental Affairs globally, advising Sony Music’s record labels and operating units on strategic negotiations, talent agreements, litigation, transactions, and joint venture operations.
In making the announcement, Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group, said “Julie has been a vital component of the Sony Music senior management team for many years and her wisdom, experience, and knowledge has been a bedrock of our company’s strategy and growth. She leaves us with our deepest respect and gratitude. As a friend and colleague, on a personal note, as Julie and I have planned together her departure for a while now, she will be missed at Sony Music, but I know that her next working chapter will be equally stimulating and rewarding.”
Swidler commented, “Every great adventure eventually makes room for a new one, and this feels like the right moment for mine. There are few companies in the world like Sony Music that carry this much history and remain this relevant. Being part of that legacy has been a privilege. That journey would not have been the same without Rob Stringer’s leadership, friendship, and trust, and I’m grateful for all of it. I’m just as proud of our global Business and Legal Affairs practice and the extraordinary people in it who are truly second to none. We have always been guided by what is fair and right for artists, and that compass never failed us.”
In 2015, Swidler worked closely with Sony Music Nashville and its roster to support them through a transition at the top. In 2018, she represented the music ecosystem on the Recording Academy’s Task Force that issued a landmark report on diversity and inclusion in music.
Prior to 2008, Swidler held senior legal and business affairs jobs at Arista Records, J Records, RCA Records, and BMG. She served as lead counsel for the 1994 Woodstock Festival and aided in the start of J Records alongside Clive Davis, contributing to the release of Alicia Keys’ multi‑platinum, Grammy Award‑winning debut album. Swidler began her music industry career at PolyGram Records and Mercury Records for more than a decade.
In 2026, Swidler was named a Music Visionary of the Year by UJA-Federation of New York. She has been a perennial presence on Billboard’s Power 100 list and has appeared on Billboard’s Women in Music list for nearly two decades. Her honors include the Grammy Foundation’s Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award, where she became the first woman and the first record label executive to receive the distinction; the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Lifetime Music Industry Award; and the Music Business Association’s Presidential Honor.
In 2023, she was elected to her current position as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Union College, her alma mater. She has held leadership roles with organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the T.J. Martell Foundation.
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